chapter 16

Outside of Bai Hua Brothel, two large, poofy lanterns lit up the entire brothel street. Working girls with heavy make up out there welcoming and seeing their guests off looked like they are glistening.

As soon as Murong Yun Shu and her party of three arrived at the front door, working girls with quick response approached them attentively, and welcomed them inside.

“Please come inside, gentlemen,” they voices sweet like honey.

Murong Yun Shu, seemingly in a relaxed state, entered in a leisurely pace. Feng Ling, a smile on her face, bounced into the brothel after Murong Yun Shu. Nie Qing, with a serious look, flung off the hand resting on his shoulder and reluctantly stepped inside.

As soon as the bawd caught sight of Murong Yun Shu, his smile was immediately replaced with shock, “How did you….” come in from the outside?

Murong Yun Shu, looking as relaxed as usual, never slowed down her pace, “You know Kung Fu too, so you should have heard of the ‘Gods appear and devils vanish’1.”

The bawd was even more surprised now. She followed Murong Yun Shu incredulously, her mind fill with questions. According to her source, Murong Yun Shu was not familiar with kung fu at all…

Murong Yun Shu arrived at the room she was staying at and found it ransacked. Obviously the bawd and the man in black were not working together.

“So who do you work for?” asked Murong Yun Shu as she settled down in the master seat. Nie Qing and Feng Ling flank her sides like her bouncers, as though they are carrying out interrogation in court.

“King Liang Jr.,” the bawd wasn’t afraid to tell the truth. She was just very confused, Murong Yun Shu knew there were traps set for her. Any other person would have ran away as far as they could, but she came back to interrogate her? Maybe… just maybe, Murong Yun Shu wasn’t as vulnerable as she made out to be.

“What does he want from me?”

“To take you to the Shu Province.”

Murong Yun Shu smiled to herself, “King Liang wants me dead, King Liang Jr. wants me live. It seems like King Liang Jr. has much better foresight. King Liang’s best bet is to become King Father after King Liang Jr. becomes crowned king.”

Nie Qing became more displeased after hearing that. Imprudent and insolent were some of the terms that crossed his mind.

The bawd was delighted, “If I knew you’d be so cooperative, I could have saved the trouble of giving you the Soul Snatcher.2”

“You gave her the Soul Snatcher?” screamed Feng Ling, looking mortified.

Idiom. Mysterious appearing and disappearing out of thin air.”

A kind of poison.

“Can your brother cure me?” asked Murong Yun Shu. Sai Hua Tuo was a world renowned doctor.

Feng Ling frowned and shook her head, “My brother failed to cure sister Xi when she was poisoned. That’s why brother was enraged with him and trapped him in Mount Hua Tuo, made him change his name, and banned him for practicing medicine.”

Chu Changge had once…. done so much for his lover? Murong Yun Shu felt a strange stirring in her chest, a slightly unpleasant feeling that she couldn’t describe. Murong Yun Shu spent a few minutes to suppress the odd feelings and turned to look at the bawd, “How can I get the antidote?”

“King Liang Jr. has the antidote, that will be his decision.”

“How much time do I have without the antidote?”

“Could be a day, could be a year, or a second. In short, it could happen anytime with no signs, and you won’t feel a thing.”

Murong Yun Shu has came to accept that, smiling, she said, “That’s like not being poisoned at all? Nobody knows when they are going to die.”

The bawd was stunned, she was starting to see why King Liang Jr. wanted to capture her alive. There was definitely something special about her, just being around her gave you the feeling of peacefulness.

“I think it’s in your best interest to convince King Liang Jr. to give the antidote to Murong,” said Feng Ling, staring at the bawd angrily. “You look like you’ve been around for a while. I’m sure you have heard of the incident three years ago when the Mojiao sect wiped out the House of Tang overnight. If brother Chu wiped out the House of Tang three years ago for sister Xi, he will wipe out the House of Liang for Murong.”

Murong Yun Shu was a little bit startled, Feng Ling’s words made her aware of the lunacy of Chu Changge that she had never seen before. She has always heard of Chu Changge being labeled as a villain but never understood why. All she saw was an arrogant and unruly scofflaw…. turned out, she has seen too little of him.

When a person is drowning in despair, they will demonstrate one of two extremes: one is to complacently accept their fate; the other is to get angry and try to fight it. The first kind achieves enlightenment; the ladder loses their heart and turns into villains. And Chu Changge, for sure scoffed and abandoned the first option, and proudly watched himself turn into a villain.

At that time he must have been so devastated that he wanted to destroy the whole world, which was why he risked declaring war with the entire world. Murong Yun Shu lowered her eyes, she felt a pang of unexplained disappointment.

“Hrm! The House of Tang is a jianghu clan, which is why the government did not interfere. King Liang is the emperor’s descendant, with military support. If Chu Changge wipe out the House of Liang, the government will surely not standby.” The bawd scoffed, “Chu Changge won’t have the guts to touch the Liang’s!”

“You….” Feng Ling didn’t have a retort, she was anxious and aggravated.

Murong Yun Shu laughed and said to the bawd, “I suggest you not to make up stuff in the future, keep in mind that words can bring troubles.” Her tone as calm as always.

The bawd roared, “Do you really think Chu Changge will antagonize King Liang for you?” Even though it was meant to be a sarcasm, Murong Yun Shu could tell the bawd desired Chu Changge to antagonize King Liang.

Murong Yun Shu gave her a deep, meaningful look. “He won’t antagonize King Liang for me; however, if he had the intention, never mind King Liang, even if we are talking about the crowned prince, he will be able to do to them as he pleases,” said Murong Yun Shu in a casual, understated manner.

“Let’s see if he’s indeed as audacious as you claimed, marching to House of Liang to save you and all!” said the bawd through gritted teeth, her eyes twinkled with excitement.

Murong Yun Shu couldn’t help but to take another look at her, her gaze aimlessly ended on the top of her head. She paused, her eyes sparkled, the corners of her mouth rose, “Oh, you are so confident that you can take me away?”

“Stop being so arrogant! I, Feng Ling, is here… Oh…” Feng Ling abruptly clutched her chest and frowned, “You poisoned me?”

“I thought you are Sai Hua Tuo’s little sister. Surely you can handle a little poison,” said the bawd, laughing wickedly.

“Who said Sai Hua Tuo’s little sister must know medicine? You run a brothel, do you entertain customers too?” Feng Ling snarled back.

Infuriated, the bard lifted her arm to strike her, but her arm was intercepted mid air and she fell onto the floor awkwardly.

“Sir Nie Qing is finally acting like a man,” said Murong Yun Shu, mocking him while smiling.

What did she mean “like a man”? I am a man! Nie Qing snorted coldly, towering over the bawd and instant killed her with his eyes. He reached out his hand to her, “Antidote.”

“I don’t have it!” said the bawd while leaping up and hitting Nie Qing’s acupuncture point.1 “I was reckless earlier, did you really think you are good enough to ask me for the antidote?”

Nie Qing stood with straightened back, staring at her angrily.

Murong Yun Shu let on a small smile, reached out her slim finger and pointed above the bawd head, slowly she let out the words, “Well, what about him?”

The bawd turned and lifted her head, but was hit by the bottom of a pot and loss consciousness before she could react.

“Qian bei2 is so skillful!” Murong Yun Shu clapped and cheered.

“All because the pot is of high quality,” a old man over 50 years of age leaped down from the beam, didn’t show any signs of being out of breath.

Feng Ling got a good look at the newcomer, her eyes widened, unbelievably pointed at the old man and cried out, “You… you are magic chef Guo Que De3!”

Murong Yun Shu busted out laughing when she heard his alias, who’s so immoral, to give someone such an immoral name?

———–

If this is your first wuxia (martial art) novel, it is commonly depicted in wuxia world that you can hit specific acupuncture points on someone’s body and causing different effects on the person. The most common ones being incapacitating an individual or taking away their ability to speak.

“Qian” mean “before” or “previously”, “bei” is a “generation. “Qian bei” translates into “previous generation” or “predecessor”. Its a term used to respectfully refer to someone older.

“Que De” means immoral in Chinese. Also the title of this chapter.